Gainward - How Reliable? Experiences?

[Optimouse Prime]

Hey guys im looking to get my new 480gtx's and the cards i was going to order have sold out Typical xD lol in the past ive always stuck with BFG until they left the scene =( then i went with Palit and their sonic platinum 260's but im just wondering if anyone has any experiences with Gainward and how reliable their cards/products are? As ive never used them before so any info can help and would be much appreciated =)

 

[Wicked_Bass]

I had gainward for a while around the ti 4200 era and I loved there cards. Overclocked like beasts! I would recommend them as a reliable and good brand.

 

[nobody_here]

If its a reference design PCB and cooler then the brand is fairly irrelevant. Only thing you buy in a brand in most cases is a different level warranty, service, resale value. They are all made in mostly the same factory and sticker slapped to be Gainward or EVGA or XFX, whatever. The exceptions are like a MSI Hawk model which has different PCB and cooler. They might also be made at Flextronix but they are not like other brand cards.

 

[MindBuster]

Gainward has "Warranty void if removed" stickers on the screws for the heatsink. meaning no aftermarket coolers unless you wanna void warranty.

Nice cards though, my soon 2 years old gtx275 is running fine and overclocks good, no intention of upgrading just yet.

 

[nobody_here]

Gainward has "Warranty void if removed" stickers on the screws for the heatsink. meaning no aftermarket coolers unless you wanna void warranty.

Nice cards though, my soon 2 years old gtx275 is running fine and overclocks good, no intention of upgrading just yet.

exactly. where, at least last time i checked, EVGA and XFX actually encourage doing cooling swaps and overclocking even providing tools to help you along, all while providing warranty

 

[MindBuster]

exactly. where, at least last time i checked, EVGA and XFX actually encourage doing cooling swaps and overclocking even providing tools to help you along, all while providing warranty

Yes, not even changing the paste is possible.

Though they do encourage overclocking and their cards also comes with a utility for it.
They were also among the pioneers of "special cards", if not the first, with their "Golden Sample" edition of cards.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

If its a reference design PCB and cooler then the brand is fairly irrelevant. Only thing you buy in a brand in most cases is a different level warranty, service, resale value. They are all made in mostly the same factory and sticker slapped to be Gainward or EVGA or XFX, whatever. The exceptions are like a MSI Hawk model which has different PCB and cooler. They might also be made at Flextronix but they are not like other brand cards.

i concur.. brands mean squat on the nvidia side anyways. they are all pretty much nvidia made reference designs with brand stickers slapped on them. nvidia doesn't give much room for custom PCB's with cards. now on the AMD side after the first 3 months of a card release brands become very important since the 3 month mark signifies when manufactures can start selling custom PCB designed cards instead of the reference cards. but either way gainward isn't a bad manufacture. its a very popular EU brand that has moved into the US market over the last 2-3 years.

 

[next-Jin]

i concur.. brands mean squat on the nvidia side anyways. they are all pretty much nvidia made reference designs with brand stickers slapped on them. nvidia doesn't give much room for custom PCB's with cards. now on the AMD side after the first 3 months of a card release brands become very important since the 3 month mark signifies when manufactures can start selling custom PCB designed cards instead of the reference cards. but either way gainward isn't a bad manufacture. its a very popular EU brand that has moved into the US market over the last 2-3 years.

I thought gainward has been around a lot longer than that, I had a gainward geforce 3 ti 500 I think. OP I'd only buy evga, step up and warranty seal the deal. Not many rma horror stories either.

 

[Vega]

Gainward has "Warranty void if removed" stickers on the screws for the heatsink. meaning no aftermarket coolers unless you wanna void warranty.

Nice cards though, my soon 2 years old gtx275 is running fine and overclocks good, no intention of upgrading just yet.

They do have that annoying sticker but it is nothing a heat gun cannot fix.

 

[Seb1]

Palit owns Gainward and XpertVision (they wanted to buy Galaxy too), usually they have a custom PCB (only the early models have the reference design).
@ Optimouse Prime Gainward cards are the "higher end" cards from Palit, they have better cooling (especially the Golden Sample GLH and Phantom series), you should acquire the GTX480 twin-fan model LINK, but I recommend the GTX570 over it, because they have a better WRM than the reference GTX570

I had a Gainward 7900GS Golden Sample, a mad overclocker

 

[Rossi~]

Palit owns Gainward and XpertVision (they wanted to buy Galaxy too), usually they have a custom PCB (only the early models have the reference design).
@ Optimouse Prime Gainward cards are the "higher end" cards from Palit, they have better cooling (especially the Golden Sample GLH and Phantom series), you should acquire the GTX480 twin-fan model LINK, but I recommend the GTX570 over it, because they have a better WRM than the reference GTX570

I had a Gainward 7900GS Golden Sample, a mad overclocker

Exactly this.
I owned the 7900GS as well, overclocked like crazy.